I shoot medium format Velvia or 100 TMAX and then scan the 6×7 transparencies/negs with a film scanner (Minolta MultiPro, 3200 ppi). Resultant files are 350 MB each. Images are landscapes, always shot on a tripod.

CONCERN/QUESTION: Can CS3 Extended successfully align and stack such large files? I am not sure just two images would reduce noise much (1/sqrt(2)) but perhaps stacking four (noise reduced by factor of 2) would be useful? Note, at present I have a PC with 2GB of RAM. I would upgrade to 4 GB (and use the 3GB boot.ini switch) to give more RAM to CS3 Extended if I thought this technique could work.
Any thoughts or advice greatly appreciated.

]]>By: Martin Eveninghttp://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/comment-page-1/#comment-10062
Martin EveningSat, 21 Apr 2007 10:34:54 +0000http://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/#comment-10062The two image stacks techniques described here are indeed useful, especially for noise reduction. I agree, it is a shame that the median and mean rendering were not available in the standard version. When it came to writing an update for the book I did want to avoid devoting space to features that were only in ‘Extended’. I did keep to that plan mostly, but this particular feature was just too interesting to leave out of the book, especially since there will be professional users who are going to be getting the premium upgrade.
]]>By: sollyhttp://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/comment-page-1/#comment-9999
sollyFri, 20 Apr 2007 00:17:03 +0000http://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/#comment-9999I can see a lot of potential for my still photography especially with the noise reduction in difficult light. Thanks for the explanation. The likelihood of forking out for extended after upgrading and getting into Lightroom in hopes that it becomes what we dream of is not too high (as in zilch). This should have been in CS3 (regular). It looks like a bad marketing decision re still photographers and one that makes me very grumpy. On the other hand, I can’t wait for your new book if extended isn’t requisite for making it useful. Thanks again.
]]>By: Martin Eveninghttp://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/comment-page-1/#comment-9968
Martin EveningFri, 06 Apr 2007 23:33:43 +0000http://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/#comment-9968The Adobe site displays a semi-available icon, but I have never been able to see any explanation as to what that refers to. Image stacks are in essence Smart Objects that you can assemble with the auto align option switched on. The key feature presented here is the ‘Stacks rendering’, and in all the correspondence I have seen, this ships with extended only. All I have to check this against are my Extended version beta copy and standard version public beta copy. I don’t believe there has been any shift in plan here.
]]>By: paulwassermanhttp://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/comment-page-1/#comment-9966
paulwassermanFri, 06 Apr 2007 14:31:04 +0000http://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/#comment-9966This is a great technique, but I wonder if I need to get CS3 Extended to make use of it. I understand from the Adobe web site that stacks are also available in Photoshop CS3 standard, with lesser functionality than extended. Does any of what you’ve described here require the Extended version?
]]>By: SeanMcFotohttp://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/comment-page-1/#comment-9935
SeanMcFotoThu, 29 Mar 2007 03:54:22 +0000http://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/#comment-9935Fantastic Martin.
A short time with extra images for much better control and quality.
]]>By: curioushttp://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/comment-page-1/#comment-9933
curiousWed, 28 Mar 2007 18:59:32 +0000http://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/#comment-9933Thats great !

So, if you can use this technique to filter something out of a photo and leave the background, could it work the other way around – remove the background and leave the subject ?

]]>By: Martin Eveninghttp://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/comment-page-1/#comment-9928
Martin EveningTue, 27 Mar 2007 14:14:44 +0000http://photoshopnews.com/2007/03/27/image-stacks-in-photoshop-cs3-extended/#comment-9928But of course, you would only be able to test this out if you had a copy of the extended version of Photoshop CS3 (not the current public beta). As usual I will be supplying certain images on the DVD that comes with my Photoshop CS3 book and making them freely available from the Photoshopforphotographers.com website. And that will include the pictures shown here. But I probably won’t get around to updating the sample image pages on the website till just before the book goes on sale or just after CS3 extended goes on sale.

If anyone is intending to upgrade to the extended version of Photoshop I would suggest that they take the opportunity to shoot extra frames when photographing subjects like the ones I have shown here.Whenever I am out with my camera at dusk photographing landscapes, I know it is a good idea to fire off a quick succession of pictures knowing that I can blend these together in Photoshop C3 extended to get a smoother looking capture. Or whenerver I want to remove those tourists out the shot!